On a Saturday in mid-November, the American sky fell quiet in a way few living travellers had ever witnessed, as more than seven hundred flights were cancelled after the Federal Aviation Administration halted air traffic nationwide the day before. The halt followed a failure in the telecommunications links that air traffic controllers depend on to speak with pilots, a fragile thread of radio and signal that most passengers never think about until it breaks. Officials were quick to insist that no enemy hand was behind it and that the passengers were safe, yet they also refused to close the door
Over 700 US flights cancelled as FAA nationwide ground stop from communications outage stretches into Saturday
Passengers faced cancelled or delayed flights, and several NBA, NHL and college sports teams were stranded ahead of busy weekend schedules.
The first nationwide ground stop since January 2023
Mark
Seven hundred cancellations. Is that a lot, given a ground stop of this scale?
Mimi
The source gives the number but no baseline for comparison. What it does stress is rarity: the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, and before that, 2001.
Luke
Worth noting that 700 is a count as of 7:45 pm Eastern Saturday from FlightAware. It was a snapshot, not a final total.
Mark
Which airlines took the worst of it?
Mimi
Delta cancelled 5 per cent of its flights, United 4 per cent, American 2 per cent. Air Canada cancelled all US flights for the rest of Friday evening.
Luke
Those percentages are also tied to that same tracker and time. They say who was hit, not why one carrier fared worse.
Mark
What actually failed?
Mimi
A telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies, which carries the radio frequencies controllers use to speak with pilots.
Luke
That's attributed to two airline officials and a US official. It isn't an official finding, and the root cause is still under investigation.
Mark
And the cyberattack question?
Mimi
Trump called it unlikely, and Mullin said there was no indication of a security threat, though he didn't rule anything out.
Luke
Right, so that's an absence of evidence so far, not a conclusion. Nobody has said what happened or when full service returns.
O Pulso
- A nationwide ground stop froze air traffic across the United States, and by Saturday evening more than 700 flights had been cancelled.
- Controllers lost the communication links they use to talk with pilots, leaving the system blind and officials scrambling to explain why.
- Delta, United and American absorbed the heaviest blows, while Air Canada cancelled every US-bound flight for the rest of the evening.
- Officials publicly ruled out cyberattack and national security threats, but the investigation into the L3Harris-overseen network continues.
- Some domestic and international departures are slowly being cleared again, though stranded NBA, NHL and college teams wait for a safe way home.
On a Saturday in mid-November, the American sky fell quiet in a way few living travellers had ever witnessed, as more than seven hundred flights were cancelled after the Federal Aviation Administration halted air traffic nationwide the day before. The halt followed a failure in the telecommunications links that air traffic controllers depend on to speak with pilots, a fragile thread of radio and signal that most passengers never think about until it breaks. Officials were quick to insist that no enemy hand was behind it and that the passengers were safe, yet they also refused to close the door on any explanation, since the memory of past shutdowns, from the aftermath of 2001 to a computer failure in 2023, still hangs over every such silence. For now, the nation waits on investigators to name the fault and on the skies to slowly recover their rhythm.
By 7:45 on Saturday evening in the East, the tally on FlightAware had passed seven hundred cancelled flights touching the United States. The count was the visible result of a decision made the day before: after a telecommunications outage struck the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control centres, the agency grounded flights nationwide.
The trouble started Friday afternoon, when communications failed at the regional centres that guide aircraft between airports. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said technicians were investigating a communications issue, and the country's skies went still. The damage did not fall evenly. Delta cancelled about five per cent of its flights, United four per cent and American two per cent, while Air Canada chose to cancel all of its US-bound flights for the rest of Friday evening.
Two airline officials and a US official said the outage appeared to involve a network overseen by L3Harris Technologies, the system that carries the radio frequencies controllers use to speak with pilots. That attribution has not been formally announced, and the investigation is still under way. Some traffic has begun to move again, including flights within Alaska and Hawaii and certain international departures.
Officials spent much of Friday pushing back on fears of an attack. President Donald Trump said a cyberattack or artificial intelligence was unlikely to be responsible, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no sign of a national security threat, though he would not rule anything out. Rare as such a shutdown is, it has happened before, most recently in January 2023, and the memory of September 11, 2001 made the question feel heavier.
The disruption reached well beyond the terminals. Several NBA, NHL and college teams were stranded before a busy weekend of games, and NFL squads were unsure whether the system would recover in time for their trips. What now matters is how quickly the investigation explains the failure, how fast the remaining flights are cleared, and whether those teams reach their games.
By 7:45 pm Eastern on Saturday, FlightAware's tally showed more than 700 flights within, into and out of the United States had been cancelled. The cause was a nationwide ground stop that the Federal Aviation Administration had imposed a day earlier, after a telecommunications outage hit its air traffic control centres.
The trouble began Friday afternoon. Communications problems affected regional air traffic control centres, the facilities that direct planes between airports across the country, and the FAA grounded all flights nationwide. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the centres were experiencing a communications issue and that FAA technicians were investigating.
By Saturday evening the cancellations were landing unevenly on the big carriers. Delta Air Lines had cancelled 5 per cent of its flights, United Airlines 4 per cent and American Airlines 2 per cent. Air Canada went further, cancelling all of its flights to and from the United States for the remainder of Friday evening because the ground stop was still in force.
The outage appears to have affected a telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies, according to two airline officials and a US official. That network carries critical radio frequencies that air traffic controllers use to talk to pilots. The reporting attributes this to those officials; the cause has not been formally announced, and the investigation is continuing.
Some traffic has started moving again. Certain flights have been cleared to depart, including services within Alaska and Hawaii, along with some international flights leaving US airspace.
Officials spent much of Friday trying to rule out the most alarming explanations. President Donald Trump said the disruption was unlikely to have been caused by a cyberattack or artificial intelligence. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication it was linked to a national security threat, though he did not rule out any possible cause, a cyberattack included. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he said, "This isn't the same comparison to 9/11," and added that all flights had been accounted for and passengers were safe. He also said there was no indication of a hostile attack on the country, calling it "just a telecommunications outage."
The comparison was not idle. A nationwide ground stop is rare. This was the first since January 2023, when a malfunction in a key FAA computer system disrupted flights. Before that, the last such shutdown came after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The effects reached beyond airports. Multiple NBA, NHL and college teams were left stranded ahead of a busy weekend of sporting events, and NFL teams were uncertain whether the problem would be fixed in time for them to travel to their scheduled games.
What to watch now is the investigation into the L3Harris-overseen network, the pace at which the remaining flights are cleared, and whether the sports teams get to their games.
Citações Notáveis
This isn't the same comparison to 9/11.— Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin
The centres were experiencing a communications issue and FAA technicians were investigating.— Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (paraphrased)
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Leia o original em Times of India ↗